Tennessee’s Cuonzo Martin named new Cal basketball coach

Sandy Barbour, UC Berkeley Athletic Director, laughs with Cuonzo Martin, second from right, after Martin was introduced as the new Cal mens’ basketball coach at Memorial Stadium on April 15, 2014. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle)

Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin will be introduced as Cal’s new basketball coach in a news conference Tuesday afternoon at Memorial Stadium, two sources within the Cal athletic department confirmed to The Chronicle.

The 42-year-old Martin led the Volunteers to a 63-41 record the last three seasons, including an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2014. Prior to that he was head coach at Missouri State for three years from 2008-11.

Martin, whose first name is pronounced KHAN-zo, played college basketball at Purdue under coach Gene Keady, who was quoted on Tennessee’s web site on his former player: “I don’t like to put labels on any of my players but in 50 years of coaching, he’s the best leader I ever had.”

Martin succeeds Mike Montgomery, who retired at 67 on March 31. In the two weeks since his retirement, a variety of names came up as candidates for the job — Travis DeCuire, Russ Turner, Eric Musselman, Chris Mack — but Martin’s was not among them, proof that athletic director Sandy Barbour did an excellent job in making sure there were no leaks during the interview process.